Staff Reporter :
The total number of economic units in the country stood at 11,877,364 at the time of the Economic Census 2024, according to the preliminary result of the census published on Wednesday.
Among the total number of economic units operational in Bangladesh, 70.27 percent is in rural areas, while 29.73 percent in urban areas, reflecting that the importance of rural areas has increased as most of the economic units are based in villages.
The figure encompasses all permanent establishments (6,288,214), temporary establishments (576,621), and economic household (5,012,529) operating across the country.
Of these economic units, a significant portion falls within the service sector account for 91.23, while others are distributed across manufacturing sector 8.77 percent. These were revealed at the publication ceremony of the preliminary report of the Economic Census 2024 held at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in the capital’s Agargaon area.
Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud spoke at the event as the chief guest while country’s renowned economist and chief of the taskforce on “Re-strategising the economy and mobilising resources for equitable and sustainable development” Dr KAS Murshid and Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain spoke as special guests.
Deputy Project Director Mizanur Rahman made a power-point presentation. Statistics Division Joint Secretary Dr Dipankar Roy moderated question-answer session.
Economic Census (EC) 2024 and 2013 covered premise based and floating economic activities operated by households as economic households.
A total of 3.7 crore people were working in the economic units, among whom 56.82 percent were based in rural areas, the report revealed.
Director General of BBS Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, who presented the facts, said yesterday’s report was part of the 4th Economic Census.
The first economic census was conducted in 1986.
Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said that the findings of the Economic Census 2024 would be useful for the trade bodies, experts, researchers, and various ministries and divisions.
Eminent economist Dr KAS Murshid said that the results of this Economic Census 2024 are very broad highlighting data on rural and urban areas as well as on employments.
He hoped that the final report of the Economic Census 2024 would highlight the structural changes in the economy.
